Brazil

New Delhi, India – Joint naval drills involving several members of the BRICS bloc, including China, Russia and Iran, have kicked off near South Africa’s coast with South Africa describing the manoeuvres as a vital response to rising maritime tensions globally.

The weeklong Will for Peace 2026 exercises, which started on Saturday, are being led by China in Simon’s Town, where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean. They will include drills on rescue and maritime strike operations and technical exchanges, China’s Ministry of National Defence said.

The drills involving warships from the participating countries come amid frayed ties between South Africa and the United States. Washington sees the bloc as an economic threat.

The BRICS acronym is derived from the initial letters of the founding member countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – with South Africa serving as the current chair. India and Brazil, however, opted out of the drills.

So why do the drills matter, and what is their aim? And why are some founding members not participating?

Who is participating in the drills?

China and Iran sent destroyers, Russia and the United Arab Emirates sent corvettes and South Africa deployed a mid-sized frigate.

Chinese officials leading the opening ceremony on Saturday south of Cape Town said Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia and Ethiopia were joining the drills as observers.

Speaking at the ceremony, South Africa’s joint task force commander, Captain Nndwakhulu Thomas Thamaha, said the drills were more than a military exercise and a statement of intent among the BRICS group of nations.

The host country described this as a BRICS Plus operation aimed at ensuring “the safety of shipping and maritime economic activities”. BRICS Plus is an expansion that enables the geopolitical bloc to engage with and court additional countries beyond its core members.

South African officials said all members of the bloc were invited to the drills.

Iran joined the group in 2024. The bloc was simultaneously expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Why do the drills matter?

South Africa has previously carried out naval drills with China and Russia.

“It is a demonstration of our collective resolve to work together,” Thamaha said. “In an increasingly complex maritime environment, cooperation such as this is not an option. It is essential.”

The South African Department of Defence said in a statement that this year’s exercise “reflects the collective commitment of all participating navies to safeguard maritime trade routes, enhance shared operational procedures and deepen cooperation in support of peaceful maritime security initiatives”.

The ongoing exercises come amid heightened geopolitical tensions. They started just three days after the United States seized a Venezuela-linked Russian oil tanker in the North Atlantic, saying it had violated Western sanctions.

The seizure followed a US military operation that abducted President Nicolas Maduro from the capital, Caracas, with his wife, Cilia Flores and a pledge from US President Donald Trump to “run” Venezuela and exploit its vast oil reserves.

The Trump administration has also threatened military action against countries such as Cuba, Colombia and Iran and the semiautonomous Danish territory Greenland.

How does Trump see BRICS?

Trump has accused some BRICS members of pursuing “anti-American” policies.

While Washington’s relations continue to be sour with China and Russia, Trump has attacked Iran and imposed punishing tariffs on India, which it has accused of funding Russia’s war against Ukraine by buying Russian oil.

After taking office in January 2025, Trump had threatened all the BRICS members with an additional 10 percent tariff.

“When I heard about this group from BRICS, six countries, basically, I hit them very, very hard. And if they ever really form in a meaningful way, it will end very quickly,” Trump said in July before the annual summit of the developing nations. “We can never let anyone play games with us.”

In their joint statement from July, the BRICS leaders took a defiant tone and called out global concern over a “rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures” without naming the US and condemned the military strikes on Iran.

Who opted out of the joint drills and why?

Two of the founding members of the BRICS alliance, India and Brazil, are not participating in the naval drills.

While Brasilia joined the exercises as an observer, New Delhi stayed away.

Since Trump returned to the White House, New Delhi has seen its stock crash in Washington.

India’s purchase of Russian oil is among the biggest flashpoints in their bilateral ties with a trade deal hanging in the balance.

For New Delhi, opting out of the drills is “about balancing ties with the US”, said Harsh Pant, a geopolitical analyst at the New Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation. “But these so-called wargames are also not the BRICS mandate.”

BRICS essentially is not a military alliance but an intergovernmental partnership of developing nations focused on economic cooperation and trade aimed at breaking an overreliance on the West.

Pant told Al Jazeera that for China, Russia, Iran and to some extent South Africa, the joint military exercise “helps [a narrative] about positioning themselves vis-a-vis the US at this juncture”.

“India would prefer not to be tagged in the BRICS wargames,” Pant said, adding that New Delhi would also not be comfortable with the gradual evolution of BRICS’s foundational nature. “This is not really something that India can take forward, both pragmatically and normatively.”

On top of that, Pant argued, there are key differences between countries in BRICS Plus – like the UAE and Iran, or Egypt and Iran – for the bloc to become a formidable military alliance.

When did South Africa last host joint drills?

South Africa conducted Exercise Mosi, as it was previously called, twice with Russia and China.

The first Exercise Mosi, which means “smoke” in the Sesotho language, took place in November 2019. The second iteration, Exercise Mosi II, was held in February 2023, coinciding with the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

South Africa had faced heat from the West for hosting the joint drills then.

A third edition was scheduled for late 2025, but it overlapped with a Group of 20 summit that was held in South Africa in November. Washington did not send any delegates. The ongoing Will for Peace 2026, now rebranded, is the third edition of the drills.

What’s at stake for South Africa?

The exercises in South African waters will likely further raise tensions with Washington.

Since Trump took office again, South Africa-US ties have deteriorated over a range of issues, and Trump has imposed 30 percent tariffs on South African goods.

A part of the fallout is also rooted in the South African government’s decision to bring a genocide case against Israel, a top US ally, before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. It accuses the Israeli government of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. In a preliminary ruling, the world court found it plausible that Israeli actions amounted to genocide.

When South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the White House in May, hoping to mend ties, Trump falsely claimed that white South African farmers were facing systematic killings.

Ramaphosa rejected the claims. None of South Africa’s political parties says there is a “white genocide” happening in the country as the Trump administration claims.

Hosting the wargames at a time of global geopolitical upheaval has its own risks, given that the US sees some of the participants as a military threat.

Ramaphosa’s government also faces criticism from one of its largest coalition partners, the liberal Democratic Alliance (DA). A DA spokesperson, Chris Hattingh, said in a statement that the bloc has no defensive role or shared military plans to warrant such exercises.

The party said BRICS had “rendered South Africa a pawn in the power games being waged by rogue states on the international stage”.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has vetoed a bill that would have reduced the prison sentence of his right-wing rival and predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of plotting a coup.

On Thursday, Lula followed through with his promise to block the legislation, which had passed Brazil’s opposition-controlled Congress last year.

“In the name of the future, we do not have the right to forget the past,” Lula wrote in a series of social media posts, saying that it would have benefitted “those who attacked Brazilian democracy”.

The veto came on the third anniversary of the 2023 attack on the Three Powers Plaza in the capital of Brasilia, where government buildings representing the presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court stand.

On January 8 of that year, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed the buildings in an apparent attempt to provoke a military response that would remove Lula from power.

In marking the anniversary of the attack, Lula called on Brazilians to stand up for their young democracy, which began after a period of violent dictatorship in the late 20th century.

“January 8th is marked in history as the day of democracy’s victory. A victory over those who tried to seize power by force, disregarding the popular will expressed at the ballot box. Over those who have always defended dictatorship, torture, and the extermination of opponents,” Lula wrote online.

“The attempted coup on January 8, 2023, reminded us that democracy is not an unshakeable achievement.”

Bolsonaro’s sentence

The January 8 attack caused millions of dollars in property damage and dozens of injuries, as police and protesters clashed in the government plaza.

The incident evoked comparisons to the violent riot at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, where supporters of President Donald Trump attempted to disrupt the certification of his 2020 election defeat.

Likewise, Bolsonaro, a former army captain, had refused to concede his defeat to Lula after a narrow loss in the 2022 elections.

Rather, he and his allies had argued that Brazil’s electronic voting machines were susceptible to fraud, and they challenged the election results in court. Their petition, however, was thrown out for its “total absence of any evidence”.

Still, many of Bolsonaro’s supporters backed his claims and took to the streets to protest the election results. The weeks surrounding Lula’s inauguration in January 2023 were fraught, with reports of a bomb threat and an attack on police headquarters in Brasilia.

Prosecutors later accused Bolsonaro and his allies of leading a criminal conspiracy to overturn the election results.

One of the options the defendants allegedly weighed was to declare a “state of siege” in Brazil, which would allow the military to take control and new elections be held. Another option was reportedly to assassinate Lula and his running mate, Geraldo Alckmin.

Bolsonaro has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied any wrongdoing, framing the accusations instead as a political hit job.

Still, in September, he was sentenced to 27 years in prison after being found guilty on counts including attempting a coup, causing damage to public property, attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, participation in a criminal enterprise, and the deterioration of a listed national heritage site.

He began his prison term in November, after he was found to have damaged the ankle monitor used to ensure he was not a flight risk.

Weighing October’s election

Conservative politicians, however, have decried the prison sentence as excessive and called for its reduction.

Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo has petitioned the Trump administration in the US to intervene on behalf of the imprisoned ex-president, and his eldest child, Flavio Bolsonaro, even hinted he might suspend his 2026 presidential bid if his father were released.

On December 10, Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies passed legislation that would reduce the sentences of nearly 1,000 people linked to the January 8 attack, including Bolsonaro.

A week later, on December 17, the Senate followed suit, sending the leniency bill to the president for his signature.

But Lula had repeatedly pledged to reject the bill, risking the possibility that Brazil’s Congress could override his veto.

“ This is a bill that really is a litmus test in Brazilian politics,” Gustavo Ribeiro, a journalist and founder of The Brazil Report, told Al Jazeera. “Conservatives overwhelmingly supported it, while liberals are adamantly against it.”

Still, Ribeiro described the bill as a compromise between Brazil’s centre-right and far-right forces.

“The centre-right tried to work a sort of a middle-of-the-road solution that is not full amnesty but would allow Bolsonaro to leave incarceration after two years, in what we call in Brazil a semi-open prison sentence,” he explained.

He sees Brazil’s general election in October as a significant factor in Congress’s passage of the bill, noting that Bolsonaro remains a popular figure on the right.

“Because Bolsonaro has such a big clout with conservatives, many in Congress – many right-of-centre lawmakers – fear that if they do not lend their full support to any cause that Bolsonaro espouses, they will lose support,” Ribeiro said.

Lula is seeking a fourth term as president in October’s election, and he is expected to face Bolsonaro’s son Flavio at the ballot box.

Tensions rise as Brazil reinforces its northern border following US air strikes in Venezuela and the abduction of its President Nicolas Maduro.

Sao Paulo, Brazil – Brazil plans to send national guard troops to northern Roraima state, which borders Venezuela and has a strong presence of illegal armed groups who traffic drugs and mine illegally on both sides of the international boundary, according to a government decree.

In an official decree published on Thursday, the government authorised an unspecified number of National Public Security Force (FNSP) troops to be sent to Pacaraima, as well as Roraima’s capital, Boa Vista, about 213km (132 miles) from the border.

The move comes after the US on Saturday bombed Venezuela and abducted its president, Nicolas Maduro. On Sunday, Brazil temporarily closed its border with Venezuela near Pacaraima.

The decree said the FNSP will support the state’s public security agencies and operate in ways “essential to the preservation of public order and the safety of people and property”.

Brazilian media reported on Wednesday that Venezuela was reinforcing its military presence on the border, and multiple armed groups, including Venezuelan colectivos and Brazilian gangs like the First Capital Command (PCC) and the Red Command (CV), operate in the area.

Gimena Sanchez, Andes director for the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), told Al Jazeera that Brazil’s deployment of guard troops to the border is an “appropriate move”. She said that violence caused by Colombian rebel groups active in Venezuela is pushing the population further south towards Brazil.

She added it “makes sense [for Brazil] to reinforce the border”, but noted there still has notbeen a mass displacement of Venezuelans.

Brazil has been a fierce critic of the US attacks. On the social media platform X, its president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said the US had crossed an “unacceptable line”.

Asked whether President Lula’s comments could provoke Washington, Sanchez said that the US is more concerned with Cuba, Mexico and Colombia at the moment. “Given that context and also that some European countries as well condemned it, I don’t think Brazil is at risk of being the focus of ire of the Trump administration,” she concluded.

Caracas, January 6, 2025 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Brazilian government will send medical equipment and medicine to Venezuela in the wake of the January 3 US bombings against military sites and other infrastructure.

Brazilian Health Minister Alexandre Padilha made the announcement Tuesday, invoking humanitarian reasons as well as regional health concerns, after medicine warehouses in Venezuela’s La Guaira state were destroyed by the US attacks.

“We are trying to mobilize, via the public healthcare sector and private companies, dialysis supplies and medicines to support the Venezuelan people after this distribution center was targeted,” Padilha said in a press conference.

The minister recalled Venezuelan solidarity in shipping oxygen to the Brazilian city of Manaus in 2021 during a coronavirus crisis. Venezuela’s eastern neighbor will also deploy healthcare professionals as part of its solidarity efforts.

The offer of assistance follows the Lula da Silva government’s firm condemnation of the US strikes and kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores as “unacceptable” and a “dangerous precedent for the international community.”

According to local reports, the warehouses belonging to the Venezuelan Social Security Institute (IVSS) were destroyed during the US bombing of La Guaira port in the early hours of Saturday.

In a statement, the IVSS reported that the lost supplies were destined for renal patients and denounced the “terrorist character of the US government” in targeting healthcare facilities.

Nelare Bermúdez, from La Guaira state’s healthcare authority, said that three-months worth of medicines for renal patients had been lost. Nevertheless, she vowed that authorities will work to ensure that healthcare services are not affected.

Venezuela has an estimated 16,000 patients suffering from chronic kidney conditions. The direct destruction of supplies adds to difficulties chronic patients already face under US sanctions. A 2018 CEPR report found that 300,000 Venezuelans with heart and other conditions were at risk as a consequence of US economic coercive measures.

In recent years, sanctions have also seen Venezuelan authorities face prohibitions, delays and overpricing in acquiring medical equipment and medicines. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Venezuela suffered delays in securing necessary vaccines.

Washington’s January 3 attacks have killed a reported 80 people, with 32 Cuban nationals confirmed dead. Venezuelan authorities have yet to disclose information on damages and casualties from the strikes.

On Tuesday, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez decreed seven days of mourning in honor of the Venezuelans killed in the US military operation.

“Our young martyrs gave their lives to defend our country,” Rodríguez told reporters. “My heart was broken by the images of the fallen bodies but I know they sacrificed themselves for the values of this nation.”

Rodríguez was sworn in on Monday after the Supreme Court declared a “temporary absence” in the Venezuelan presidency. Maduro, as well as First Lady and legislator Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty to charges including cocaine importation conspiracy during their arraignment hearing on January 5.

The USmilitary operations followed months of buildup and regime-change threats from the Trump administration. The US president has threatened Rodríguez and the Venezuelan government to accept US demands, including favorable oil deals.

[UPDATE: Venezuelan authorities reported the arrival of a shipment with supplies for dialysis patients on Tuesday night at Maiquetía airport but did not specify its origin and contents.]

The ex-president’s wife says he fell out of his prison bed while sleeping and hit his head.

Brazil’s jailed ex-president, Jair Bolsonaro, ⁠fell and struck ⁠his head in his prison cell, but his request to go to a hospital was denied by the country’s top judge.

The 70-year-old right-wing leader fell out of bed while sleeping and hit his ​head on a piece of furniture, his wife, ‍Michelle Bolsonaro, wrote on Instagram on Tuesday.

“We ​are ‌going to the hospital. My love will ‌undergo exams,” Michelle Bolsonaro ‌said.

However, Supreme ‍Court Justice Alexandre ‍de Moraes denied Bolsonaro’s request to immediately leave prison for tests at a hospital in Brasilia.

The federal police said in a statement that Bolsonaro received initial medical treatment in the morning, adding that a federal ‍police doctor “found ⁠minor injuries” and saw no need for hospitalisation.

“Any referral to a hospital depends on authorisation from the Supreme Court,” it added.

Bolsonaro, who was stabbed ‌in the abdomen during a ⁠2018 campaign event, has a history of hospitalisations and surgeries related to the attack.

Citing the police report, de Moraes said in his decision that there is no need for Bolsonaro to be immediately taken to hospital. The judge said his legal team has the right to request ​exams for Bolsonaro, but lawyers must schedule ‌them in advance and provide information justifying the procedures.

Bolsonaro underwent a series of medical procedures ‌in December to treat a hernia and ⁠hiccups.

He was discharged from hospital on January 1 and taken back to the Federal Police Superintendency in Brasilia, where he is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a ‌coup after losing the 2022 presidential election.

Protesters have rallied worldwide after Donald Trump announced the US would ‘run’ Venezuela following the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. Demonstrators from Paris to Sao Paulo are denouncing what they call US aggression and imperialism.

Sao Paulo, Brazil – Venezuela has temporarily closed its border with Brazil following the United States’s early morning attack on Caracas, in which US forces also “captured” President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

The border crossing between the Brazilian city of Pacaraima and Santa Elena de Uairen in Venezuela had been closed on the Venezuelan side for about five hours, blocking citizens from entering Brazil, a Brazilian military official told Al Jazeera.

“There was no formal protocol from Venezuela regarding entry and exit criteria. The fact is that Brazilians are allowed to leave, while Venezuelans face restrictions. But this could change at any time,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak on the matter.

The head of Brazil’s Federal Police also announced the temporary closure, and the governor of the state of Roraima told Reuters that the border had been reopened after the brief closure.

Brazil’s government said it is monitoring the border and has sent military personnel to the region to bolster security.

“The Minister of Defense indicated that there is no abnormal activity on the border between Brazil and Venezuela, which will continue to be monitored, and that he is in contact with the Governor of Roraima,” read a statement from Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Venezuelans make up Brazil’s largest foreign population, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. The state of Roraima alone is home to 77,563 immigrants from the country. In all, some 8 million Venezuelans have fled their homes in the past decade, with more than 6 million resettling in other Latin American countries.

“I think it’s very possible that there will be an exodus of Venezuelans to Brazil, and, in fact, we are already seeing concrete signs of it,” Jessica Leon Cedeno, a Venezuelan journalist who lives in Sao Paulo, told Al Jazeera.

“Millions of people have left the country in search of better living conditions and opportunities.”

Lula says US attacks could ‘destabilise’ the region

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Saturday that US President Donald Trump’s actions inside Venezuela were “unacceptable”.

“The bombings on Venezuelan territory and the capture of its president cross an unacceptable line,” wrote Lula on X. “These acts represent a grave affront to Venezuela’s sovereignty and yet another extremely dangerous precedent for the entire international community.”

Brazil’s leader has urged restraint for months amid an increased US military buildup off Venezuela’s coast.

Analysts worry that Maduro’s removal could plunge Venezuela into chaos, potentially resulting in another wave of mass migration, as it witnessed in 2019 after a failed attempt to remove Maduro.

Joao Carlos Jarochinski Silva, a professor of international relations at the Federal University of Roraima, said that a potential wave of migration would depend on multiple factors, including whether Washington continues its military campaign inside the country and whether what remains of Maduro’s regime will put up a fight.

“What is the resilience capacity of Chavismo within Venezuela?” Jarochinski Silva said, referring to the political movement named after former President Hugo Chavez. “This could have consequences that are truly worrying, but given the current scenario, there is no context of fear.”

He added that Trump has so far focused on applauding his military’s action inside Venezuela and has not addressed key humanitarian concerns. Earlier this year, the Trump administration cut funding to the US government’s main agency for foreign aid, USAID, which heavily affected Venezuela’s neighbours, Brazil and Colombia.

“The United States has been cutting humanitarian resources lately,” he said, adding that there will be consequences to the US military actions inside the country. “For example, refugees, other people who may be affected by this. He doesn’t commit to this agenda at any point.”

The Brazilian Federal Supreme Court has again denied a request from the defence team of former President Jair Bolsonaro to move him from prison to house arrest.

Bolsonaro, 70, has been in and out of hospital over the past week, undergoing multiple treatments for aggressive hiccups and a hernia.

But on Thursday, his petition for house arrest on “humanitarian grounds” was denied, a day after it was filed.

In explaining the court’s decision, Justice Alexandre de Moraes argued that Bolsonaro already has access to round-the-clock medical care in police custody.

The former right-wing leader is currently being held at the federal police headquarters in the capital, Brasilia, after being sentenced to 27 years in prison for attempting to overturn his 2022 electoral defeat.

De Moraes also questioned whether Bolsonaro’s health merited “humanitarian” accommodations.

“Contrary to what the defence alleges, there has been no worsening of Jair Messias Bolsonaro’s health condition,” the justice said in his decision.

“Rather, his clinical condition showed improvement in the discomfort he was experiencing after undergoing elective surgeries, as indicated in the report from his own doctors.”

Multiple requests

This is not the first time the court has rejected a similar petition from Bolsonaro, who has reportedly suffered from lingering conditions, including hiccups, related to an abdominal stabbing he survived on the campaign trail in 2018.

Bolsonaro was taken into custody in November after damaging an ankle monitor that allowed him to remain at home while pursuing appeals. He had been convicted in September.

But shortly after Bolsonaro was remanded into custody, his defence team filed a request for house arrest, warning of life-threatening conditions behind bars.

“It is certain that keeping the petitioner in a prison environment would pose a concrete and immediate risk to his physical integrity and even his life,” his lawyers wrote.

That request, and a subsequent one in December, have been denied.

On December 23, though, the Supreme Court approved Bolsonaro’s request to leave prison, in order to undergo surgery for a hernia, resulting from damage to his abdominal muscles.

He travelled to Brasilia’s DF Star hospital to receive treatment and has since pursued other procedures, including a phrenic nerve block treatment and an endoscopy, to address his persistent hiccups.

Election controversy

A former army captain, Bolsonaro became a rising star in Brazil’s far right and served as president for a single term, from 2019 to 2023.

During his term, he faced scrutiny for comments he made praising Brazil’s military dictatorship, which ruled the country from 1964 to 1985 and oversaw the systematic torture and killings of political dissidents.

He also allegedly used his office to cast doubt on the integrity of Brazil’s electronic voting system.

In 2023, Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) would ultimately bar Bolsonaro from holding public office for eight years, citing instances where he broadcast unfounded allegations about the election system on state TV and social media.

Still, Bolsonaro was considered a frontrunner going into the 2022 presidential race, where he faced two-term former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The race advanced to an October 30 run-off. Lula eked out a narrow win, besting the incumbent Bolsonaro by less than two percentage points, with 50.9 percent of the vote.

In the aftermath, Bolsonaro refused to publicly concede defeat, although media reports indicate he may have done so in private.

Meanwhile, he and his allies filed a legal challenge against the election outcome that was quickly rejected for its “total absence of any evidence”. Bolsonaro’s coalition was fined nearly $4.3m for the “bad faith” petition.

But the unfounded belief that Bolsonaro’s defeat was somehow illegitimate prompted his supporters to take to the streets. Some blocked highways. Others attacked the federal police headquarters.

The tensions culminated on January 8, 2023, a week after Lula’s inauguration, when thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed Brasilia’s Three Powers Plaza and broke into buildings representing Congress, the presidency and the Supreme Court.

Some supporters expressed hope that they could lead to a military coup that would remove Lula from power.

Legal jeopardy

That attack prompted wide-ranging investigations, and in November 2024, federal police issued a sweeping report accusing Bolsonaro and 36 allies of attempting to “violently dismantle” Brazil’s constitutional order.

The report detailed alleged instances where Bolsonaro and his allies discussed invalidating the election results — or even assassinating Lula.

Last February, prosecutors formally charged Bolsonaro and dozens of codefendants for attempting to overthrow the 2022 election.

His trial unfolded despite high-level international pressure from right-wing figures like United States President Donald Trump, who imposed steep tariffs on Brazil in August to protest against the prosecution.

Still, in September, Bolsonaro was found guilty on five counts, including attempted coup d’etat, armed conspiracy, attempted abolition of the rule of law, destruction of public property and damage to national heritage.

Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing throughout the case and has called his prosecution an attempt to silence a political rival.

He remains a popular figure on the right, and his eldest son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, announced last month his intention to challenge Lula for the presidency this upcoming October.

Last month, Brazil’s conservative-led Congress also passed a bill that could shorten Bolsonaro’s sentence, though Lula has pledged to veto it.

Dec. 29 (UPI) — International tourism across South America rebounded strongly in 2025, led by Brazil, which received nearly 9 million foreign visitors and consolidated its position as the region’s top destination.

Brazil welcomed 8.97 million international tourists between January and November 2025, a 40% increase compared with the same period last year, according to data from Brazil’s Ministry of Tourism.

Argentines were the largest group of visitors, totaling 3.1 million tourists, followed by travelers from Chile, the United States, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Brazilian authorities said visitor numbers are expected to rise further in December with the year-end holidays and the peak of the Southern Hemisphere vacation season.

Tourism revenue generated more than $7.1 billion in foreign income through November, reflecting higher volumes and longer average stays, according to the Central Bank of Brazil and tourism officials.

Elsewhere in South America, tourism recovered at different speeds. Most countries reported clear gains compared with previous years, driven mainly by regional travel and improved air connectivity.

Argentina recorded 795,300 international visitors in November alone, according to national statistics, including 491,400 tourists who stayed at least one night and 303,900 same-day visitors.

Brazil was the main country of origin, followed by the European Union and Uruguay. Despite solid inbound figures, Argentina posted a negative tourism balance, as outbound travel by residents continued to exceed arrivals of foreign visitors.

Chile reported more than 5 million international tourist arrivals during the year, according to data from the National Tourism Service, marking one of the strongest recoveries in South America.

Authorities said the growth was driven mainly by visitors from Argentina and Brazil, along with a gradual return of long-haul travelers from North America and Europe as air connectivity improved.

Uruguay received 3,207,536 international visitors between January and November, with estimated tourism spending of $1.784 billion.

Argentina and Brazil remained the country’s main source markets. Argentine tourists totaled more than 2 million arrivals, generating $1.034 billion in spending, while nearly 450,000 Brazilian visitors produced approximately $296 million during their stays.

Paraguay posted one of the region’s strongest rebounds early in 2025, with international arrivals up more than 50% year over year in the first quarter, according to Unite Nations tourism data.

The growth was driven mainly by cross-border travel and short stays linked to commerce and regional mobility.

South American travelers took advantage of exchange rate differences and expanded land and air connections. The return of travelers from the United States and Europe added further momentum, particularly in Brazil and Chile, reinforcing South America’s post-pandemic tourism recovery.

Ex-Brazilian police chief caught using fake Paraguay passport in attempt to board flight to Panama, sent back to Brazil.

A Brazilian former police chief, who fled the country after he was convicted as an accomplice in the attempted coup by Brazil’s far-right ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, has been arrested in Paraguay, according to the country’s immigration agency.

Silvinei Vasques was arrested on Friday at the Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Paraguay’s capital Asuncion, the Paraguayan National Migration Directorate (DNM) said in a statement posted on its website.

The agency said Vasques was arrested for “identity theft” after “attempting to evade immigration controls by impersonating a Paraguayan citizen”.

Vasques was arrested while attempting to board a flight to Panama, declaring El Salvador as his final destination, the DNM statement said.

The wanted police chief had “clandestinely” entered Paraguay while “evading justice in his home country”, DNM added.

An image published on X by Paraguayan immigration authorities showed Vasques’s arrest and identification.

A separate video clip posted on the same account showed Vasques being turned over to Brazilian federal police at the Friendship Bridge border crossing that connects Paraguay’s Ciudad del Este and Brazil’s Foz do Iguacu.

Translation: The National Directorate of Migration (DNM) expelled Silvinei Vasques from the country. Moments ago, the DNM expelled Silvinei Vasques (50) from the country, subsequently handing him over to Brazilian Federal Police authorities at the Friendship Bridge border crossing.

Vasques, the former chief of Brazil’s highway police, was accused of deploying officers to prevent voters in left-leaning areas from casting their ballots in 2022 elections that Bolsonaro lost to left-wing candidate and current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

He was arrested in 2023 and placed under supervision with an electronic ankle monitor pending trial. Earlier this month, he was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison to be served under house arrest. He fled Brazil shortly after.

Brazilian media reported that Vasques broke his ankle monitor and drove across the border to Paraguay.

Brazil Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the fugitive’s preventive detention as a precautionary measure on  Friday, Reuters news agency reported, citing a court document and information from two people familiar with the matter.

Reached by Reuters, Vasques’s lawyer did not comment on his client’s attempt to flee.

Vasques is not the first official convicted over the 2023 coup attempt who has tried to escape from Brazil. In November, the Supreme Court ordered the arrest of the former intelligence agency director Alexandre Ramagem, who left the country in September and has since been living in the United States.

That same month, Justice Moraes also ordered Bolsonaro be detained after the former president tried to remove his court-ordered ankle monitor using a soldering iron, in what the court saw as an attempt to escape justice.

Bolsonaro, 70, is now serving a 27-year sentence in jail after being found guilty in September of having led the plot to prevent Lula from taking office.

On Thursday, the former president underwent surgery in hospital for a hernia.

A British travel expert has shared the location of what she believes to be the most beautiful place on Earth, advising others of five things to know before planning a visit to the breathtaking scenery

Following her visit to what she hailed as the “most beautiful place on Earth”, a travel expert has compiled a list of five essential pointers for anyone wanting to experience this breathtaking destination themselves. Emma Ansley Knight turned to TikTok after returning from the Brazil-Argentina border in South America, describing her journey as “such a bucket list moment”.

“Literally felt a tear come down my face when I stood over the Devil’s Throat waterfall for the first time,” she added. “Just amazing how powerful nature can be.” She went on to explain that the Brazilian side of her destination offers roughly a 1.5km walk with “beautiful panoramic views” of the cascades, which she suggests tackling first.

“Someone said that from the Brazilian side you can see the falls, and from the Argentinian side you can feel the falls, which I thought was a great way of describing it,” Emma said. The Argentinian side is quite different, however, featuring multiple walking routes and providing more of a “full day experience”, she added.

Her destination? Iguazu Falls. Also referred to as Iguaçu Falls, it sits on the Iguazu River and forms part of the world’s largest waterfall network.

“If you want to see the falls at their absolute fullest, you are best off going in the rainy season, which is roughly between November and March,” Emma advised.

“We went in December and just before that it had rained so much that the flow of the falls was five times higher than usual.”

She went on to describe the Devil’s Throat, the most impressive cascade at Iguazu Falls. “You can see the water thundering down it from the Brazilian side,” she said.

“And on the Argentinian side, you can head along a walkway and stand pretty much right at the top of it – and wow, what an experience that was.”

Regarding accommodation options, Emma outlined several choices. “On the Brazil side, you have Foz do Iguaçu, which is where we stayed. And on the Argentina side there’s Puerto Iguazu – and if your budget allows, you can even stay in the National Park itself.”

Emma concluded by reminding visitors that crossing from one side of the falls to the other requires passing through border control, meaning you must make sure you have your passport with you.

Iguazu National Park achieved UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 1986 due to its exceptional natural splendour. Its website advises: “The semicircular waterfall at the heart of this site is some 80m high and 2,700m in diameter and is situated on a basaltic line spanning the border between Argentina and Brazil.

“Made up of many cascades producing vast sprays of water, it is one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world. The surrounding subtropical rainforest has over 2,000 species of vascular plants and is home to the typical wildlife of the region: tapirs, giant anteaters, howler monkeys, ocelots, jaguars and caymans.”

To get to the destination from Brazil, you can catch a flight from either Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro to the local airport, Aeropuerto Internacional de Foz do Iguaçu. The journey from Rio takes roughly two hours, while flights from Sao Paulo shave off about 15 minutes.

Alternatively, if you’re travelling from Buenos Aires in Argentina, you can fly directly to the Aeropuerto Internacional de Puerto Iguazu. This flight is slightly quicker, clocking in at around one hour and 50 minutes.

Bolsonaro’s operation addressed a painful double hernia; doctors anticipate five to seven days of hospitalisation.

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a prison sentence for an attempted coup, underwent a “successful” surgery for an inguinal hernia, his wife has said.

The 70-year-old former leader left prison on Wednesday for the first time since late November to undergo the procedure on Thursday at the DF Star Hospital in Brasilia.

“Successful surgery completed, without complications. Now we wait for him to wake up from anaesthesia,” his wife Michelle announced in an Instagram post.

Bolsonaro has been serving a 27-year term since November for an attempted coup. He was granted court permission to leave prison after federal police doctors confirmed that he needed the procedure.

Doctors say Bolsonaro’s double hernia causes him pain. The former leader, who was in power between 2019 and 2022, has gone through several other surgeries since he was stabbed in the abdomen during a campaign rally in 2018. He was also diagnosed with skin cancer recently.

Doctors for the far-right president from 2019 to 2022 anticipated that his hospitalisation would last between five and seven more days.

The surgery was to repair an inguinal hernia – a protrusion in the groin area due to a tear in the abdominal muscles.

“It is a complex surgery,” Dr Claudio Birolini said on Wednesday. “But it is a standardised … scheduled surgery, so we expect the procedure to be carried out without major complications.”

After the operation, doctors are to assess whether Bolsonaro can undergo an additional procedure: blockage of the phrenic nerve, which controls the diaphragm, for recurrent hiccups, Birolini said.

Brazil’s Supreme Court sentenced Bolsonaro to prison in September after he was found guilty of having led a scheme to prevent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office and to retain power.

Bolsonaro has maintained his innocence, declaring he was a victim of political persecution.

He has been confined to a small room with a minibar, air conditioning and a television at the federal police headquarters in Brasilia.

Succession

Early on Thursday, his eldest son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, told reporters before the surgery that his father had written a letter confirming he had appointed him as the Liberal Party’s presidential candidate in next year’s election. Flavio announced on December 5 that he would challenge Lula, who is seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term, as the party’s candidate.

The senator read the letter to journalists, and his office released a reproduction of it to the media.

“He represents the continuation of the path of prosperity that I began well before becoming president, as I believe we must restore the responsibility of leading Brazil with justice, resolve and loyalty to the aspirations of the Brazilian people,” Bolsonaro said in the handwritten letter, dated Thursday.

According to Flavio, the letter sought to clarify any “doubt” about his father’s support for his presidential bid.

“Many people say they had not heard it from his own mouth or had not seen a letter signed by him. I believe this clears up any shadow of doubt,” he said after reading the letter.

The former president and several of his allies were convicted by a panel of Supreme Court justices for attempting to overthrow Brazil’s democratic system following his 2022 election defeat.

EU delays Mercosur trade deal until January amid farmer protests and opposition from France and Italy.

The European Union has delayed a massive free-trade deal with South American countries amid protests by EU farmers and as last-minute opposition by France and Italy threatened to derail the agreement.

European Commission chief spokesperson Paula Pinho confirmed on Thursday that the signing of the trade pact between the EU and South American bloc Mercosur will be postponed until January, further delaying a deal that had taken some 25 years to negotiate.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was expected to travel to Brazil on Saturday to sign the deal, but needed the backing of a broad majority of EU members to do so.

The Associated Press news agency reported that an agreement to delay was reached between von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – who spoke at an EU summit on Thursday – on the condition that Italy would vote in favour of the agreement in January.

French President Emmanuel Macron had also pushed back against the deal as he arrived for Thursday’s summit in Brussels, calling for further concessions and more discussions in January.

Macron said he has been in discussions with Italian, Polish, Belgian, Austrian and Irish colleagues, among others, about delaying the signing.

“Farmers already face an enormous amount of challenges,″ the French leader said.

The trade pact with Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay would be the EU’s largest in terms of tariff cuts.

But critics of the deal, notably France and Italy, fear an influx of cheap commodities that could hurt European farmers, while Germany, Spain and Nordic countries say it will boost exports hit by United States tariffs and reduce reliance on China by securing access to key minerals.

Brazil’s President Lula says Italy’s PM Meloni asked for ‘patience’

The EU-Mercosur agreement would create the world’s biggest free-trade area and help the 27-nation European bloc to export more vehicles, machinery, wines and spirits to Latin America at a time of global trade tensions.

Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane, reporting from Berlin, said Germany, Spain and the Nordic countries were “all lobbying hard in favour of this deal”. But ranged against them were the French and Italian governments because of concerns in their powerful farming sectors.

“Their worry being that their products, such as poultry and beef, could be undercut by far cheaper imports from the Mercosur countries,” Kane said.

“So no signing in December. The suggestion being maybe there will be a signing in mid-January,” he added.

“But there must now be a question about what might happen between now and mid-January, given the powerful forces ranged against each other in this debate,” he added.

Mercosur nations were notified of the move, a European Commission spokeswoman said, and while initially reacting with a now-or-never ultimatum to its EU partners, Brazil opened the door on Thursday to delaying the deal’s signature to allow time to win over the holdouts.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Italy’s Meloni had asked him for “patience” and had indicated that Italy would eventually be ready for the agreement.

The decision to delay also came hours after farmers in tractors blocked roads and set off fireworks in Brussels to protest the deal, prompting police to respond with tear gas and water cannon.

Protesting farmers – some travelling to the Belgian capital from as far away as Spain and Poland – brought potatoes and eggs to throw and waged a furious back-and-forth with police while demonstrators burned tyres and a faux wooden coffin bearing the word “agriculture”.

The European Parliament evacuated some staff due to damage caused by protesters.

European champions Paris Saint-Germain pushed all the way in Intercontinental Cup final in Qatar by South Americans.

Back-up goalkeeper Matvei Safonov saved four penalties as Paris Saint-Germain edged out Brazilians Flamengo 2-1 in a shootout to win the FIFA Intercontinental Cup final in Qatar.

PSG led through Khvicha Kvaratskhelia before Jorginho’s spot-kick levelled for Flamengo as the game finished 1-1 after extra time on Wednesday.

Copa Libertadores winners Flamengo defeated Mexicans Cruz Azul and African champions Pyramids last week to earn the right to face PSG and pushed the European champions all the way with a dogged display.

But Luis Enrique’s men, who received a bye to the final, were indebted to Safonov and followed in the footsteps of Real Madrid, who lifted the inaugural title last year.

PSG thought they had taken the lead in the ninth minute when Fabian Ruiz cleverly hooked the ball into an empty net after Flamengo goalkeeper Agustin Rossi miskicked a clearance while trying to prevent a corner.

But the goal was ruled out by VAR because Rossi had narrowly failed to stop the ball from going out of play.

But PSG did break the deadlock eight minutes before half-time courtesy of another Rossi error.

The Argentinian turned Desire Doue’s low cross, which looked to be too strong for Kvaratskhelia, straight into the Georgian’s pass for the simplest of tap-ins.

Flamengo managed to stay in the game, though, and were awarded a penalty on the hour mark for a foul by Marquinhos on Uruguay midfielder Giorgian de Arrascaeta after a VAR review.

Former Chelsea and Arsenal player Jorginho stepped up to send Safonov the wrong way in trademark fashion.

PSG pressed for a winner, sending on Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembele, who set up a last-gasp chance for Marquinhos.

But the centre-back could not react quickly enough to get his effort on target as the ball flashed across goal and the game headed into extra time.

Both teams saw half-chances come and go in the added half-hour, with Dembele flashing a shot narrowly off target in the 116th minute.

That set the stage for Safonov – playing in place of regular first-choice Lucas Chevalier, who is still regaining full fitness after an ankle injury – to steal the headlines and spare the blushes of Dembele and Barcola, who both missed for PSG.